Floyd Abrams
The First Amendment's advocate
Free speech, argued at the highest court.
Reformist Social LibertarianOne of 729 ideologies · enter the Social Libertarian hall →- Role
- Attorney
- Era
- b. 1936
- Region
- United States
- Social band
- Reformist
- Placement
- −4 · −52 · +58
§ Where Floyd Abrams stands
3 axesAbrams has never had an economic programme; his life's work is the First Amendment. The economic edge of his career is his insistence that corporations and unions share full speech rights, which he pressed for Senator Mitch McConnell in Citizens United v. FEC, decided in 2010, against limits on their election spending. That stance sets him apart from many liberals and leaves him essentially at the centre.
Abrams has spent his career narrowing what government may suppress. The 1971 Pentagon Papers ruling set a heavy presumption against prior restraint of the press, and he later defended reporters who refused to reveal sources, representing Judith Miller and Time's Matthew Cooper in the 2005 CIA leak inquiry. In 1999 he won an injunction barring New York City from cutting the Brooklyn Museum's funding over an exhibition.
His progressivism is expressed through freedom of expression itself. He defended the Brooklyn Museum's 1999 Sensation exhibition, including Chris Ofili's painting The Holy Virgin Mary, against City Hall's objection that it offended Catholics, and in The Soul of the First Amendment (2017) he argues that the United States should keep protecting offensive and hateful speech that many other democracies restrict.
How close are you to Floyd Abrams?
Three statements, one per axis. Answer them and we’ll drop you on the compass next to them.
§ The story
LivingFloyd Abrams (born 1936) is an American lawyer, a long-time partner at the New York firm Cahill Gordon & Reindel and one of the country's best-known First Amendment litigators. Born in New York City and educated at Cornell and Yale Law School, he came to national attention in 1971 as co-counsel to The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, in which the Supreme Court refused to let the Nixon administration block publication of a secret history of the Vietnam War.
Over five decades Abrams has represented newspapers, broadcasters, authors and museums, including the Brooklyn Museum in its 1999 fight with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and the reporter Judith Miller, jailed in 2005 for refusing to name a source. His most contested work came on behalf of Senator Mitch McConnell, for whom he challenged campaign-finance limits and argued as an amicus in Citizens United v. FEC (2010), defending corporate and union election spending as protected speech, to the dismay of many liberal allies.
Notable for
- 01Pentagon Papers case
- 02Leading First Amendment litigator
- 03'The Soul of the First Amendment'
Key works & moments
- 1971Serves as co-counsel to The New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case.
- 1999Represents the Brooklyn Museum against Mayor Giuliani's attempt to cut its funding over the Sensation exhibition.
- 2005Represents reporter Judith Miller, jailed for refusing to name a source; publishes Speaking Freely.
- 2009Argues for Senator McConnell at the Citizens United rehearing; the 2010 ruling strikes down corporate spending limits.
- 2013Publishes Friend of the Court: On the Front Lines with the First Amendment.
- 2017Publishes The Soul of the First Amendment.
§ Minds closest to Floyd Abrams
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§ Also in the Social Libertarian hall
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§ Common questions
4 answersWhat is Floyd Abrams's political ideology?
Floyd Abrams is a free-speech liberal whose politics run through the First Amendment: on the 99ideologies three-axis compass, a Reformist Social Libertarian. Economically he sits near the centre (−4), with no economic programme beyond defending everyone's right to speak, corporations included. On governance he is strongly anti-authoritarian (−52), having spent his career fighting censorship, prior restraint and the jailing of reporters. Socially he is progressive (+58), defending provocative art and offensive speech alike.
Is Floyd Abrams left-wing or right-wing?
Mostly liberal, but his First Amendment principles refuse to take sides. He made his name defending The New York Times against the Nixon administration in the Pentagon Papers case and has represented journalists and artists against government pressure ever since, causes usually associated with the left. Yet he also represented the Republican senator Mitch McConnell against campaign-finance limits and has defended the Citizens United decision, which many liberals regard as a disaster for American democracy.
Why did Floyd Abrams support Citizens United?
Because he sees political speech as the core of the First Amendment, whoever pays for it. The case arose when federal law was used to stop Citizens United, a conservative non-profit, from distributing and advertising a 2008 film attacking Hillary Clinton during the primary season. Abrams argued that banning corporate and union spending on such communications amounted to government censorship of election debate. Critics say the 2010 ruling flooded politics with money; Abrams has defended it in books and essays as a victory for free expression.
Which minds are closest to Floyd Abrams?
On the 99ideologies three-axis compass, the minds closest to Floyd Abrams are Anthony Lewis (98% alike), Russell Means (98% alike) and Aryeh Neier (97% alike). The furthest is Adam Sutler (9% alike).